


With a little help from our friends

by heroofcanton



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Engagement, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 04:19:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9106357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heroofcanton/pseuds/heroofcanton
Summary: Grantaire and Enjolras both forget their anniversary. Luckily, their friends are there to remind them.





	

Grantaire was sitting in his favourite café, typing away on his laptop. The table was strewn with various papers from his notebooks, as well as with the notebooks and stray pens. He never really did get the hang of making notes digitally; he preferred to actually write them down, so he could scratch the words away or circle them if he liked them.

The noise around him was just loud enough that it was there, but it didn’t bother him. The cup of coffee he was currently drinking was just warm and sweet enough – he ignored the three other mugs on his table, as they have gotten cold.

It was his favourite café to write in and Grantaire was lost in his story, not paying any attention to the world around him.

Of course, the world didn’t seem to get the memo.

“Hey, fuckface. What’re your plans for tonight?” Éponine said as she very loudly dragged a chair over to his table.

Grantaire didn’t look up, he just kept writing, because if he lost his flow then, he would never get it back and –

“R, you’ve been working for too long,” Éponine sang and waved a hand in front of his face.

He had no idea why exactly she was his best friend.

“Go away,” he said, ducking his head so he could still see the screen of his laptop.

“I will not,” she declared loudly and then sighed. “Seriously, you need a break.”

“Fine, just lemme finish this,” Grantaire muttered and grinned when he felt her slump back in her chair.

“Fine.”

When he was finally done with the scene, Grantaire looked up at his best friend and smiled, a bit sheepishly. He knew she only wanted the best for him, but he knew that she knew that concentration was hard to get by and that he needed to take advantage of it whenever he had it.

“Okay, I’m done. What’s up?” he said, closing the laptop after hitting the save button a few times. You could never be more careful with that kind of thing.

“What are your plans for tonight?” she asked, grinning.

“My plans?” Grantaire asked, frowning a bit. If she wanted to go to a movie or something, she could just ask. “I don’t know, I was gonna paint a bit and then watch Person of Interest. You know, Shaw reminds me so much of you, it’s ridiculous.”

It was true. Both the character and Éponine were tiny, but muscular; they didn’t take shit from anybody; both had long black hair, though Éponine’s was sometimes dyed at the tips; and even their skin tones were similar, with Éponine’s being a bit darker. Also, they both had insane crushes on their female friends who flirted with them at inopportune moments and both refused to admit said crushed existed.

“She’s amazing, of course she reminds you of me,” Éponine said matter-of-factly. “But just, let’s go back to your plans… To be clear, tonight, on the 12th of June, you’re going to paint and watch a show?”

Grantaire frowned at her. She was using a very specific tone that he had learned to recognize soon after they met. The tone heavily suggested that Grantaire was being an idiot.

“Yes?” he shrugged slowly, “I mean, I’m probably gonna get some take-out, as well – why are you glaring at me? Did you want to come over?”

Éponine stared at him, narrowed her eyes and then shook her head.

“What’s Enjolras doing tonight?” she asked in a carefully even tone.

What was happening?

“Um. I don’t know, we haven’t really talked about it, but I guess he’s gonna be working on a draft for that new bill Mayor Valjean wants to pass…” Grantaire trailed off when Éponine’s head snapped up and glared at him again.

Before either of them could say anything, though, Courfeyrac joined their table with loud and cheerful greetings.

“Hey, loverboy, what are you doing tonight?” Courfeyrac asked, wriggling his eyebrows.

Grantaire was so lost, and only in part because his mind was still somewhat with his story.

“He’s gonna watch Person of Interest while Enjolras drafts a bill,” Éponine said in a dry tone, now turning his head to give Courfeyrac an unimpressed look, her eyebrows raised.

Courfeyrac glanced from her to Grantaire, his face a variety of different expressions fleeting over it. It went from confused to more confused, to realization to staring unimpressed at Grantaire.

His friends had such expressive faces, it was insane. One time, Grantaire was going to paint them, maybe make a collage of their most ridiculous and most complicated ones. Actually, he could do a collage for each of his friends. Maybe he could do some of them in succession, showing a face that went from one extreme emotion to another. Courfeyrac would be great for that, the man’s eyebrows alone were on a whole different level than the rest of them… This could be a new exhibition; he was going to have to talk to Floreal about this, she was his agent and usually ran with his ideas…

“Are you even listening to us?” Éponine was saying and Grantaire realized guiltily that he had completely tuned them out.

“Yeees?” he tried, though he knew it wouldn’t work. Éponine was angry, which was never good and Courfeyrac wasn’t joking around, which equally was not good.

“R,” Courfeyrac said in a tortured tone, “do you know what day it is?”

“It’s, um, it’s Wednesday?” Grantaire ventured.

He had absolutely no idea. The thing about being able to work from home was that days just went flying past him and his sense of time has never been the best. Luckily, Enjolras was there most of the time to remind him to eat and do laundry whenever Grantaire was too preoccupied with a story or a painting; Enjolras was also the one that kept track of what day it was, what time it was and things like that. Things that Grantaire forgot.  
In turn, Grantaire made sure that Enjolras didn’t spend too much time working, that he actually slept like a normal human being and that he didn’t burn himself out.

“It’s Friday, but not what I meant. It’s the 12th of June,” Courfeyrac was saying, very slowly, in a tone that made it obvious Grantaire was supposed to realize something.

“Okay?” Grantaire replied slowly, shaking his head slightly, trying to- oh. “Oh. Oh _fuck_!”

12th of June.

It was his anniversary with Enjolras.

Fuck.

“Yeah,” Éponine said, gesturing at him as if to say, ‘that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, you idiot’.

“I’m so stupid oh my god,” Grantaire muttered, his face hidden behind his hands. “I forgot… I’ve been working on a new story and there’s a painting I have to finish and Flo’s been talking to me about a new exhibition I could do and… I forgot.”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Courfeyrac said, awkwardly patting Grantaire’s head. “You can still fix it, there’s still time to plan a grossly romantic evening. Besides, you’ve got me to help you, it’ll be easy. Easy-peasy!”

Grantaire groaned into his hands.

 

***

 

By the time he was done, the apartment looked impeccable. Grantaire cleaned and tidied and then started on dinner. He had decided that, along with a bouquet of flowers, his gift to Enjolras for their two year anniversary would be a clean apartment and a romantic dinner. Courferyac approved of the plan, though he kept suggesting glitter – he never specified what for and Grantaire did not ask.

He decided on fajitas and baked corn rice that Enjolras loved. It was his Mom’s recipe that she brought over to the States from Puerto Rico and Grantaire knew Enjolras liked it when Grantaire cooked for him. To make it romantic, he was going to shape the rice into a heart.

Yes, it was cheesy, but Grantaire felt like it had to be, to make up for the fact that he had forgotten about the anniversary.

He watched several youtube tutorials on how to fold napkins into swans and then tried for himself. When he was done, Grantaire leaned his head on the side, frowning at the end result. The napkins vaguely resembled some sort of a bird, he supposed.

They would have to do. Grantaire was running out of time.

He lit candles that Courfeyrac provided and set the table, dimming the lights in their living room. Grantaire was happy with how things turned out. Enjolras never had to know that he hadn’t been meticulously planning for a longer time.

He just hoped Enjolras didn’t make them any reservations at a fancy restaurant.

That particular thought had been bugging Grantaire ever since he decided on the dinner. His anxiety, of course, blew the thought out of proportions and he had almost had a panic attack over it an hour ago. Éponine had talked him out of it over the phone, calming him down.

The thought still persisted, however.

Grantaire was just putting everything on the dining table when the door of the apartment opened. He carefully put the clay pot containing fajitas on the table and turned around, grinning.

“R, it smells so good!” Enjolras said, smiling as he put his messenger bag on the floor. “Happy anniversary, baby.”

Grantaire beamed as Enjolras walked over to him, brandishing a bouquet of colourful gerbera daisies – Grantaire’s favourite. Grantaire, in turn, picked the bouquet he had bought – gorgeous red alstroemerias.

They grinned at each other and kissed for what was probably a bit longer than either of them had intended, but hey.

“Happy anniversary,” Grantaire muttered against Enjolras’ lips.

They enjoyed a lovely dinner, with Enjolras teasing Grantaire mercilessly about the heart-shaped rice, but Grantaire refused to admit that it was cheesy. For dessert, they ate ice cream out of the carton, cuddling on the couch.

Grantaire was resting his head on Enjolras’ chest and Enjolras’ arm was wrapped around Grantaire’s shoulders, drawing lazy patterns as they cuddled in comfortable silence.

“Thank you for the dinner, R. It was perfect,” Enjolras muttered at some point and Grantaire replied by pressing a kiss to his chest.

“I, um.” Enjolras cleared his throat and Grantaire frowned as he could feel his boyfriend’s heart rate pick up. He was nervous.

“I wanted to… Could you, uh. Could you sit up?” Enjolras asked and Grantaire obliged, twisting in Enjolras’ embrace so that he was facing him.

Yeah, Enjolras was definitely nervous; his face was doing that thing it did every time Enjolras had to give a public address. Even though he was an amazing public speaker and had the power to engage the people, to make them listen, he still got nervous every single time.

“What’s up? Is something wrong?” Grantaire asked, his brows knitting together in concern.

“No,” Enjolras breathed, shaking his head and smiling. “No, nothing’s wrong. Well, yet. I hope nothing’s gonna be wrong, I. Oh fuck, things could go wrong, I-“

“Enj, breathe,” Grantaire interrupted, taking Enjolras’ hands in his own, smiling reassuringly. “Whatever it is, just tell me, okay.”

Enjolras nodded and then took a deep breath.

“Okay, I. Okay. I love you. I’ve loved you for a very long time, before we’ve ever gotten together, and I know that you know, I just wanted to tell you again. No, please, let me finish,” he added hastily as Grantaire opened his mouth to tell him he loved him as well, “I love you and I cannot imagine my life without you. You ground me, you tell me when I’m being an asshole, you point out the flaws of my speeches and ideas, you help me build better arguments… You help me be a better person, and I am so incredibly grateful, Grantaire,” Enjolras took a deep breath again.

Grantaire blinked away the tears and reminded himself to breathe.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?” Enjolras asked, looking directly in Grantaire’s eyes and brandishing a tiny velvet box seemingly out of thin air.

Grantaire made an embarrassing sound in the back of his throat. There were too many emotions flowing around his head for him to settle on one and he kept having to remind himself to breathe. He was grinning so widely his cheeks hurt, but he didn’t care.

Enjolras wanted to marry him.

“R?” Enjolras asked, frowning a bit.

Oh, that wouldn’t do.

It occurred to him then, that he hadn’t actually said anything.

“Fuck, yes!” he laughed and leaned forward, taking Enjolras’ face in his hands and brought his lips to Enjolras’.

They both kept grinning too much for the kiss to last long, and when they pulled apart, Enjolras opened the box. The ring was gorgeous. It wasn’t anything too grand, because Enjolras knew his boyfriend – fiancé! It was a silver band with some sort of pattern engraved, and it was the most beautiful thing Grantaire had ever gotten.

Enjolras put it on Grantaire’s finger and then brought the hand to his lips to kiss.

If there were tears in their eyes, well, that was their business.

Grantaire could die of happiness. The man he was insanely in love with loved him back, and wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. Enjolras planned this, he went out and bought a ring and made a speech, all for him.

Oh.

Enjolras planned this. Enjolras didn’t forget about their anniversary. Enjolras had remembered, had a plan and Grantaire had forgotten. He was so absolutely useless and Enjolras should just leave right then and find someone who actually knew when their anniversary was and Grantaire should just go crawl in a cave somewhere.

It must have shown on his face, because now Enjolras was the one frowning with concern.

“Hey, what – talk to me, R, what’s wrong?” Enjolras asked softly, stroking Grantaire’s cheek with his knuckles.

“It’s just… I feel so horrible, because I forgot that today was our anniversary, Éponine and Courfeyrac had to tell me and you’ve been planning this for god knows how long and you remembered and fuck, I don’t deserve you, Enjolras and you want to marry me and-“His rambling was mercifully cut off by Enjolras giving him a stern look and moving one of his hands to his neck.

“Grantaire. I… I forgot about the anniversary too. I mean, yes, I’ve been planning to propose on this day, but I completely forgot that it was today. I didn’t even have the ring until this morning! I’ve been meaning to buy it for a while, but there was always something else I had to do, or you were there with me when I remembered, so I couldn’t buy it and… And then ‘Ferre asked to see the ring when I came to the office today and I fucking panicked, I didn’t know what to do. Thank god for Combeferre, honestly, he took me to four different stores and kept me from calling you to tell you to dump me because I’m an asshole.”

Grantaire stared at Enjolras for a long moment before he broke out in laughter.

“We’re both so stupid,” he managed to say and Enjolras laughed as well, shaking his head.

“Thank fuck our friends know when we got together,” Enjolras replied.

Grantaire leaned forward to rest his head on Enjolras’ shoulder, shaking with laughter.

“I love you,” he said, when he had finally stopped laughing. His arms were wrapped around Enjolras’ torso, his head was tucked in into Enjolras’ neck and he felt happier than he had ever felt.

This right there, being wrapped in Enjolras’ warm embrace, knowing that the man loved him, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life like that, was more than Grantaire ever thought he would get. It was beyond perfect.

“I love you, too,” Enjolras replied, pressing a kiss on top of Grantaire’s head.

 

***

 

_One year and a day later_

 

“Hey, ‘Ponine,” Grantaire greeted his best friend, as Enjolras waved at her.

They just arrived for their weekly lunch/wedding planning and Éponine was grinning at them.

“Hey, guys. How was your anniversary?” Éponine asked and both men froze.

They very carefully did not exchange glances.

“Wonderful,” said Enjolras, just as Grantaire said, “Awesome”.

Éponine narrowed her eyes at them.

“Oh yeah? What did you do?”

They both thought back to the previous night, which they spent in their pajamas, eating leftover pizza. They fell asleep on the couch at 9pm while watching a documentary about sedimentary rocks.

“Romantic dinner,” said Enjolras.

“Sex,” said Grantaire.

They chuckled nervously as Éponine glared at them.

“You forgot. _Again._ I cannot believe you two!”

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in one afternoon, and there's probably some mistakes in there. I apologize. If you see any, please let me know, so I can correct them :)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have any suggestions or prompts, I would welcome them with open arms. Come talk to me on [tumblr](hero-ofcanton.tumblr.com)
> 
> Kudos and comments make me very very happy <3


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